Netball

Share

Netball is a female only sport with the Commonwealth Games as the pinnacle of the international competition season every four years.

At the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, the top 12 teams in the world fought for the top prize with Team England making history by winning gold for the first time, a real monumental moment for the Roses.

Throughout the seven matches in the tournament, Team England scored 450 goals with an 87.4% scoring accuracy. Goal shooter, Jo Harten, was the team's top scorer with 202 goals. The team was captained by Ama Agbeze.

At the Gold Coast, the team was managed by Tracey Neville. Tracey’s famous sporting family includes her brothers Gary Neville and Phil Neville who both represented England at football.

Netball sees two teams of seven players contest for possession, pass the ball and attempt to shoot for goal through 3.05m-high rings. It’s fast-paced and split-second decisions can make the difference between winning and losing.

Working from GK to GS, feel the intensity as the team compete for possession, and defend the critical moments.

With 30 seconds to go, the pressure counting down the clock, England lead with 1 point and with only 15 seconds to go. Australia make an interception that could win them the game, making the scoreboard equal with 51-51.

Helen Housby has the chance to take the lead again, but Australia's obstruction mean they have a second chance, with no time left on the clock. The goal goes in making the score 52-51 to Team England and for the first time, and after a well deserved competition, Team England get gold and made history. After not giving up despite them being four down - they take the win and were determined.

Never before has this final been anyone other than Australia and New Zealand, and in an Australian home Games, a lifetime dream was achieved for Team England.

Eng V Aus - Final

Play Video

You might need to know...

Netball is played between two teams of seven players who pass the ball down a court in an attempt to score in raised net

The winning team is the one that scores the most goals at the end of a 60 minute match

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Team England were drawn in Pool B alongside New Zealand, Malawi, Wales, Scotland and Uganda

The top two teams from each of the pools qualify for the knockout rounds

Netball at the Gold Coast 2018 was the sixth staging of the sport in the Commonwealth Games since it's inclusion in 1998.

Having a total of three bronze medals previous to the Gold Coast, Team England have always been just short of topping the table. Then, history was made in 2018 when England beat Australia, the reigning champions, with just 15 seconds to go in an iconic sporting moment.

Team England previous netball medals

>

1

Gold

0

Silver

3

Bronze

4

Total

At Birmingham 2022, the thrilling tournament of netball will take place at the NEC and see some of the world’s greatest teams go head-to-head in pursuit of victory at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Team Leader

Paul Dring

Paul's role involves managing all of the planning, operations and logistics for the Vitality Roses as well as Team Management of all camps, tours and competitions.

He has worked with the Vitality Roses since 2016 and was Team Leader and Team Manager for the Gold medal success on the Gold Coast in 2018 where the Roses made England Netball history in dramatic fashion. This led to the Vitality Roses being named Team of the Year at the BBC Sports Personality of the year in 2018. He has been the Vitality Roses Team Manager in over 60 international test matches across the world, including the 2019 home World Cup in Liverpool.

Prior to joining England Netball, Paul worked in various management roles before starting a career in elite sport in 2014 as a Podium Road Coach with the Great Britain Paracycling Team.